Busiel



(Specimens.)

W. ESTY.

STOCKING.

No. 451,468. Patented May 5,1891.

UNrTnn STATES PATENT Quince,

\VILLIAM ESTY, OF LACONIA, NElV HAMPSHIRE, ASSIGNOR TO CHARLES A. BUSIEL, JOHN T, BUSIEL, AND FRANK E. BUSIEL, ALL OF SAME PLACE.

STOCKING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 451,468, dated May 5, 1891.

Application filed February 23, 1889. Serial No. 300,981. (Specimens!) To whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM EsTY, of Laeonia, in the county of Belknap and State of New Hampshire, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Stockings, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

My invention/relates to machine-knit fashioned or shaped stockings; and it consists in a stocking having a seamless widened tubular leg, a heel knit in a single flat section narrowed toward its lower end and seamed together along the center of the bottom of the heel, and a foot and toe knit in two flat sections and united by seaming along each side of the foot and around the end of the toe.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a side elevation of a finished stocking embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same stocking before the seaming of the top and bottom of the foot and toe together is done, and Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the leg and heel as they appear after the completion of the knitting of the heel and before the foot and toe sections are knit.

To knit this stoekingl use three machines: first, a straight machine having two parallel rows of needles for knitting the seamless widened tubular leg; second, a straight machine having a single row of needles and provided with narrowing-points and tackle constructed and arranged to transfer the stitches or loops on nearly one-half of the needles at each end of the row of needles inward for knitting the heel in a single flat section narrowed near its lower end, and, third, a straight machine having a single row of needles and provided with narrowing-points and tackle constructed and arranged to transfer the loops or stitches from a few of the needles at each end of the row of those in action to'the needles next nearest the center for knitting the two flat sections of the foot-body and toe.

The operation of knitting this stocking upon the machines above described is as follows: I first take up on the needles of a straight machine having two parallel rows of needles as many stitches as are required to give the required size to the ankle, one-half of said stitches being on each row of needles;

knit a sufficient number of circular courses to give the desired length of straight tube for the ankle A from line a b c to line 01 (I; knit another series of circular courses and widen by throwing into action a new needle at the same end of each row of needles as often and as many times as necessary to give the desired length and increased diameter to the calf or widened section B of the leg extending from line (Z d to the line 6 c; then knit a sufficient number of circular courses on all of the needles that have been brought into action to give the desired length of straight seamless tuhe for the leg-top O, and then cast off the stitches on line ff. The work is then transferred to the heeling-machine, and one-half of the stitches at the ankle end of the leg and the rear side thereof are taken up on the needles of said machine to knit the heel D. I then knit a series of back-and-forth courses on all of the needles first put in action until the line g is reached; then knit a few more back-andforth courses and narrow by transferring the stitches or loops on nearly one-half of all the needles in action to the next needles toward the center of the row, first at one end and then at the other end of the row of needles in action; then cast off the stitches from the needles; take up on the needles of the footer the remaining stitches of the ankle end of the leg on the line ab; knit a sufficient number of back-and-forth courses on a uniform number of needles to give the desired length to the top of the foot-body; then knit other back-and-forth courses from line h h to it and narrow by transferring the stitches on one or more of the needles at each end of the row of those that are in action to the next needles toward the center; then cast off the stitches still remaining, take up as many stitches from the frontselvage edges of the heel along line b j as were before taken up along the line a Z), and proceed to knit the bottom foot and toe section in the'same manner as the top foot and toe section was knit and cast off the stitches when the line t' i is reached. The knitted article will then appear as shown in Fig. 2.

To complete the stocking, the open part of the heel from j to 7; is united'by seaming and the top and bottom sections of the foot-body and too are united by seaming along each side of the foot and around the end of the toe.

\Vhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

l. A stocking having a seamless widened tubular leg, a heel kuit in a single fiat section, narrowed near its lower end, and seamed together along the center of the bottom of the heel, and a foot and toe knit in two flat sections, narrowed at the toe, and united by seaming along each side of the foot and around the end of the toe.

2. The method of knitting fashioned or shaped stockings by machinery, which consists in first taking up on the needles of a straight machine having two parallel rows of needles as many stitches as are required to give the required size to the ankle, one-half of said stitches being on each row of needles, knitting a sufficient number of circular courses to give the desired length of straight tube for the ankle, then knitting another se ries of circular courses and widening by throwing into action a new needle at the same end of each row of needles as often and as many times as necessary to give the desired length and increased diameter to the calf, then knitting a suflicient number of circular courses on all of the needles that have been brought into action to give the desired length to the stocking-leg, then casting off all the stitches from the needles, then applying one-half of the loops at the ankle end of the leg and the rear side thereof to the needles of a straight machine having a single row of needles and narrowing points and knitting a series of back-and-forth courses on all the needles upon which said loops were taken up to form the upper part of the heel, then knitting a few more back-and-forth courses and narrowing by transferring the stitches or loops on nearly one-half of all the needles in action to the next needles toward the center of the row, first at one end and then at the other end of the row of needles, then casting off the stitches from the needles, then taking up on the needles of the footer and the remaining needles of the ankle end of the leg, knitting a sufficient number of back-and-forth courses on a uniform number of needles to give the desired length to the top of the foot-body, then knitting other back-and-forth courses and narrowing by transferring the stitches on one or more of the needles at each end of the row of those that are in action to the next needles toward the center, then easting olf the stitches still remaining, taking up 011 the same machine as many stitches from the front sclvage edges of the heel as were taken up to form the top of the footbody and knitting the bottom foot and toe section in the same manner as the top foot and toe section was knit and casting oil": the stitches, and finally seaming together the opening in the bottom of the heel and the top and bottom foot and toe sections.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witness, on this llth day of February, A. I). 1889.

WI LLTAM ES'lY.

Witnesses:

E. F. Rnnvns, J. W. ASIIMAN. 

